Playing Hopscotch
By Amanda Formaro
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Hopscotch and other skipping games have stood the test of time for a reason. Pass these fun ideas on to your children and watch their faces light up!
Basic Hopscotch
Playing hopscotch can be done indoors or out, making it very versatile. All you need are markers, such as a stone, a large button or a beanbag. For outdoor hopscotch, sidewalk chalk works best; for indoor versions, using masking tape to create a grid on carpet is a good bet.
Ready, Set, Play!
Draw a starting line about six inches or so behind the first square. The game starts and continues with the first player until they make a mistake, when player number two gets a turn, and so on. The object is to hop over the marker and onto the next square (or set of squares), and continue working your way up the grid without making a mistake.
To begin, the first player tosses their marker onto square one. They must hop over that square and land on squares two and three with one foot in each. Next, they hop on one foot and land on square four, then jump and land on two feet in squares five and six and so on until they reach the end, square ten. There they must turn around by hopping on one foot and come back the same way they went up, stopping on squares two and three to pick up their marker from square one. Next, they hop to square one and out of the grid. If no mistakes were made, the same player continues by tossing their marker to square two and repeats the process, always avoiding contact with the square that contains the marker.
